I recently had the opportunity to visit two small and very different art exhibitions presented by two diverse creative talents in Second Life; and while they are entirely unrelated in terms of their visual composition and content, both appealed to me in such a way that writing about both within a single article struck me as not unreasonable.
The first is a very modest – I wish it were more extensive! – exhibition by Noa Cloud, presented at the Gallery Asaki Yume Mishi, which has a novel underwater setting. Noa is perhaps best known amongst SL explorers as the holder and creator of [REN], with its seasonal designs and opportunities for photography (and which is also the home of his own gallery); however, he is also a gifted writer, a musician and actor, and an explorer of Second Life as well as an expressive photographer of both avatars and Second Life landscapes.
Within Photopoetry, Noa combines both his writing and his photography both directly and indirectly. Directly, because within the selection of pieces is a slideshow featuring all six of the presented pieces taken from around Second Life, each with its own single-stanza poem presented in both Japanese and English. As I don’t speak Japanese myself, I cannot say of they all form traditional Haiku, but the flow of their English metre suggests they are free-form Haiku (which do not necessary follow the 5-7-5 on), and each certainly has an implied kigo.
Indirectly, because while the combination of each image with a poem leans the observer into a line of thought suggested by the poet-artist, Noa also includes the six pieces individually around the gallery space (and within the slideshow prior to its accompanying poem gently fading-in), allowing visitors to view them free from any suggestion of rhyme and meaning. Thus, each piece is able to speak to us in its own right – and there is much each has to say; Noa’s photography carries within it a mix of homage to Nature’s beauty – often combined with a sense of spiritual reflection or uplift – together with a hint of mystery or social commentary, all of which makes for a thoroughly engaging visit.
Frank Atisso is also well-known within Second Life. He was the founder of the Art Kornersl blog which later morphed into the Art Korner Exhibits HUD and the Art & Photography Calendar. He also founded the Art Korner Gallery and currently co-runs the Artsville Hub, exhibitions at both of which have been, and continue to be, featured within this blog. And if that weren’t enough, Frank also keeps himself busy as a DJ in-world! However, his work as a photographer is something which may be less well known, and so his exhibition at the Annex of Dido Haas’ Nitroglobus Roof Gallery offers an excellent opportunity for those who have not done so to acquaint themselves with it.
Entitled Shadows of Strength, this is an exhibition of male semi-nudes (something of a rare subject in SL!) which are specifically designed to explore the complex interplay of light and shadow within photography. Presented as chiaroscuro greyscale pieces, the nine images comprising Shadows of Strength are on a technical level a perfect embodiment of the technique: using bold contrasts (light / dark) to frame the entire composition and achieve a sense of volume and depth in modelling three-dimensional objects and figures within a two-dimensional canvas.
However, these are pieces that achieve for more than a technical embodiment of a technique. Such is the subtle interplay of contrasting light and dark in all their varying volumes and as determined by the subject’s pose and the positioning of the (off-camera) illumination, the eyes is naturally drawn to the manner in which both light and shadow ebb and flow across the subject, both of them giving subtle emphasis in their own way to changing skin and muscles tone which also highlighting features and hiding others to give an intrinsic and life-giving depth to each piece.
Thus, within each of these pieces we have not only a single-frame study of the human form and the use of light and shadow, but also an exploration of mood, thought, emotion, even vulnerability (particularly in those images where the subject is not looking at or towards the camera), conveyed as narrative threads to further engage the eye and mind.
Both Photopoetry and Shadows of Strength will remain open through February 2024, and I recommend both to fellow patrons of the arts in Second Life.
SLurl Details
- Gallery Asaki Yume Mishi (Notha, rated Moderate)
- Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (Sunshine Homestead, rated Moderate)
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